It is well known that one of the causes for the modern adult disease like hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease is the acidification of the physical constitution of an individual due to the excessive intake of acid food.
As a consequence of the preference for alkaline ion water, an apparatus, i.e., an ion water generator has been introduced. It is understood that the use of alkaline ion water helps to convert acidic physical constitution into light-alkaline condition.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle of the mechanism of an ion water generator in accordance with the prior art.
Traditionally, the ion water generator consists of a purifier 1 for the filtration of water and an electrolyzer 2 that electrolytically dissociates the purified water.
More specifically, the electrolyzer 2, comprising a cation chamber 4 and an anion chamber 5 being separated from each other by barrier ribs 3, produces ion water through an electrolysis process of water with proper voltages applied to these chambers.
When a voltage is applied at the cation chamber 4, oxygen gas is generated due to the reduction process of the hydroxyl ion in the electrolyzed water. During the reduction process, the negative acid ions, including chlorine, phosphorus, and sulfur, acidify the water in the cation chamber 4.
In the meanwhile, hydrogen gas is generated due to the reduction process of hydrogen in the anion chamber 5. Simultaneously, hydrogen ion pairs are produced by the positive ions, such as sodium, magnesium, and calcium.
Consequently, the solution of the anion chamber 5 becomes alkaline. The alkaline ion water produced at the anion chamber can be used for drinking water while the acid ion water can be used for skin care or sterilization.
Furthermore, the structure of the: alkaline ion water becomes hexagonal during the electrolysis, which turns out to be an outstanding feature for a sound body.
However, the prior art has a shortcoming in that the cations like calcium and magnesium are solidified at the negative electrodes of the cation chamber 5 during the electrolysis.
As time passes, the amount of the solidified tartar on scale at the negative electrodes becomes sufficiently large so as to cause a reduction of the electric current during electrolysis. The excessive build-up of scale at the negative electrode decreases the electrical current, thereby preventing the efficient dissociation of water during the electrolysis process.
The formation of the scale or tartar, on whatever, at the negative electrodes is unavoidable if the electrolyzer is used for quite a long period of time without switching the polarity between the anion and ration chambers.
Consequently, the state of the art in the field of ion water generation is such that the polarity of the voltage applied at the electrodes of each chamber is switched from time to time for preventing the formation of scale at the negative electrode.
In this approach, the role of each electrode is periodically commutated in an effort to effectively prevent the formation of scale at the electrode of the anion chamber. In other words, the cation and anion chambers are switched with each other periodically.
Since the roles of the cation chamber and the anion chamber are interchanged from time to time in accordance with the prior art, the species of the ion water, namely either alkaline ion water or acid ion water, discharged at the outlets or the faucets, should also be alternatively changing, accordingly.
However, it is natural that people expect to take the same kind of ion water, for example, alkaline ion water, from the faucet designating “drinking water”. Thus, it would be undesirable and even more dangerous if the opposite species of ion water, for example, acid ion water is produced at the same faucet designating “drinking water” just because of the polar conversion taking place inside the apparatus.
If the same species of ion water needed to flow out of the same outlet continuously, the waterways from the chambers to the outlet must be re-configured in accordance with the commutation of applied voltage at the electrode of the chambers.